In existing multi-hop wireless networks, whether in a WLAN (wide large area network) mesh network or WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) 802.16J multi-hop network, encryption/decryption of the data traffic is performed on a hop-by-hop basis in accordance with IEEE 802.11i and IEEE 802.16 PKMv2.
The hop-by-hop encryption/decryption adds significant complexity to encryption key distribution and encryption key wrapping. It may take a significant delay, measured, for example, on the order of hundreds of milliseconds for each party to be authenticated and to complete encryption key distribution. Some other solutions involve Ad-hoc Diffie-Hellman (RSA PKCS #3) authentication. These solutions have the inherent limitation of a lack of scalability.
Existing solutions are based on centralized key distribution in which each device has encryption key pairs for use with only a centralized authenticating node. This entails that traffic goes through the centralized authenticator regardless of whether there exists an optimum path for the traffic, which does not include the centralized authenticating node.